A solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole could reach Earth on or about June 4th. Credit: SDO/AIA.

SPACE WEATHERNOAA Forecasts

Updated at: 2011 Jun 02 2200 UTC

FLARE

0-24 hr

24-48 hr

CLASS M

10 %

10 %

CLASS X

05 %

05 %

Geomagnetic Storms:Probabilities for significant disturbances in Earth's magnetic field are given for three activity levels: active, minor storm, severe storm

Updated at: 2011 Jun 02 2200 UTC

Mid-latitudes

0-24 hr

24-48 hr

ACTIVE

15 %

40 %

MINOR

05 %

20 %

SEVERE

01 %

05 %

High latitudes

0-24 hr

24-48 hr

ACTIVE

20 %

45 %

MINOR

10 %

25 %

SEVERE

01 %

10 %

Thursday, Jun. 2, 2011

What's up in space

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CO-ORBITAL ASTEROID FLYBY: Small asteroid 2009 BD is flying through the Earth-moon system today about 215,000 miles from Earth. The 10m wide space rock poses no threat to our planet, but it is of acute scientific interest. "It's notable because it remains close to Earth for months at a time and is actually a co-orbital object with a very low delta-V (velocity) relative to Earth," writes Lance Benner of JPL. "A recurring question about objects with very low delta-V values is whether they may be ejecta from the Moon." Goldstoneradarobservations by Benner and colleagues in the nights ahead might illuminate the origin of this curious object.

ECLIPSE OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN: A solar eclipse at midnight? It's not only possible, it actually happened last night. On June 1st, the new Moon passed in front of the midnight sun above the Arctic circle, producing a partial eclipse of exquisite beauty. Bernt Olsen photographed the event from Sommarøy, Tromsø, Norway:

"A rain shower threatened to spoil the show, but just before midnight the clouds parted and I got a fairly clear shot of the eclipse," says Olsen. "I'm glad I did, because we won't experience an eclipse like this again for 73 years."

SOUTH POLE AURORAS: Earth is exiting a solar wind stream that sparked colorful auroras on May 28th-30th. At the height of the display, Southern Lights over the geographic south pole became so bright, "they were tricky to photograph without overexposure," reports J. Dana Hrubes, science leader at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. "The ice surface as well as the 10m primary mirror of the South Pole Telescope were well illuminated." (continued below)

"When I went outside to take these pictures on May 30th, the air temperature was about -94 F (-70 C)," says Hrubes. "Just days earlier, the temperature had dropped all the way to -103.4 F (-75.2 C), so the aurora photo-shoot was relatively warm."

Photographers at the South Pole, bundle up! Another solar wind stream is due to arrive on or about June 4th. Its impact could trigger renewed geomagnetic activity, and you might want to go outside. Aurora alerts:text, voice.

Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs) are space rocks larger than approximately 100m that can come closer to Earth than 0.05 AU. None of the known PHAs is on a collision course with our planet, although astronomers are finding new ones all the time.